I. The fundamental contradiction: an "impressive," "brilliant" budget and the incredible destitution of the masses, starvation, unprecedented in any single civilized state! Ergo{56}: "whited sepulchres," plunder of the masses, extortion of taxes; expressed in economic terms: capitalism in Russia is still maintained by the bourgeoisie only from above, still occupies a subordinate place in the landlord economy compared with bondage and corvée, still remains a veneer of bardom, rather than improving the system of economy and developing the productive forces of all the masses, as in the West.

This fundamental contradiction both explains the revolutionary situation in Russia, and we must illustrate this fundamental contradiction.

II. A brilliant budget Russia has already seen (under Witte). There was likewise "free liquid assets," likewise boasting before Europe, likewise intensified Auspumpen{57} of the European bourgeoisie. And what was the result? Collapse.

III. The present budget, of course, has "moved forward" (just as Russian capitalism has): naturally! Without moving forward at a snail's pace, no financial system could have endured even a year! But the pace of "your" landlord "progress" is truly snail-like.

The same gigantic sums (/4) on militarism, police, etc., that is, on the ruling class of serf-owners.

The same plying of the peasant with drink (800 million), the same oppression of indirect taxes (57%). On indirect taxes—elaborate.

IV. They say: and in Europe almost everything is the same. Precisely "almost," gentlemen!

First, Europe more than 100 years ago already experienced liberation from serf-owners, etc., through heroic revolutionary means. But Russia has not yet experienced this.

Second, in Europe the productive forces are not the same.

V. The same comparison regarding workers.

The same regarding railway workers:

VI. Harvest in Russia (1905–1909) of wheat:

VII. Consumption of cast iron

VIII. How did America rid itself of slavery?

IX. Income and expenditure of peasants

committees on agricultural industry, II Duma, p. 1212{181}.

Destitution, filth, hunger, extortion of taxes.

Are the data obsolete? No. The famine of 1911.

Famine in a number of provinces in 1912.

X. Causes?

{181} An analysis of the figures cited was given by V. I. Lenin in the article "The Last Valve" (see the present volume, p. 17).

* Versus – in relation to. Ed.

** On. Ed.

XI. State Council VS large landlord land-ownership.

{182} Lenin refers to the stenographic records of the State Duma of the second convocation, session II, vol. I, p. 959 and of the third convocation, session I, part I, p. 662, where formulas for transition to agenda items submitted by representatives of the Social-Democratic factions of the II and III Dumas on the question of the budget are cited.

{183} This refers to the rules approved by the tsarist government on March 8 (21), 1906, concerning the procedure for reviewing the state schedule of income and expenditure. According to these rules, certain items of expenditure in the state budget were not subject to examination by the Duma, for example: a significant part of the expenditures of the tsar's court, payments on state loans, extraordinary above-budget credits for the needs of wartime.

XIII. Russia between Europe and the advanced – democratic Asia.

Written in January – the first half of May 1913.

Published for the first time from the manuscript.